An Exercise In Logic For The PSP
September 25th, 2008Proposition: It is easier to make poor-quality ports than it is to produce quality original content.
Proposition: Because it is easier to produce poor-quality ports, it is also cheaper, and thus more people will elect to produce poor-quality ports than the alternative.
Proposition: If people are uninterested in producing poor-quality ports for your device because they are concerned about the ability of a game to sell on it, they will also be uninterested in producing original content.
Proposition: Limiting the number of games on your console is not a recipe for its future success.
Conclusion: Prohibiting poor-quality ports on the PSP is insufficient at ensuring its successful turnaround.
I understand that Sony believes the PSP’s audience is best served by original extensions of popular franchises, but I fail to see how this move addresses its biggest problem: it doesn’t have a lot of games that people want to buy. It’s all well and good to argue that they need better games, but this move seems most likely to do two things: dry up some of the existing supply of games that might encourage people to get a PSP right now, and further convince other publishers that there’s no audience for a new original game. Where’s the reason for them to take a chance?
Posted in Business, Geoff |
September 26th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Not that your argument isn’t reasonable, but I don’t think you can write off Sony’s strategy so easily. It seems to me these moves are aimed at (a) preventing the PSP from being known as a platform for shovelware, and (b) establishing the PSP’s identity as a home for excellent-quality games. Furthermore, I think they are assuming that people don’t want to buy the same content in both home console and portable versions, which I think is true. And do you really know anyone who has a PSP who doesn’t already have a current-gen console? I know a few, but mostly they are secondary systems.
September 26th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Rob,
That’s fine - *if Sony controls the execution of its strategy*. If Sony is producing shovelware, then it can stop the production of shovelware and begin producing AAA software. But if other companies are producing shovelware, you can prevent it from reaching the PSP, but you can’t make them produce what you want them to just because you hope hard enough.
In other words: great idea. But you can’t force a strategy onto other companies… especially those that have alternative platform options.
September 26th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
But there *is* quality software for the PSP. I have around a dozen excellent PSP games myself. I think Sony would rather have a smaller library of wheat than a larger library that includes a lot of chaff. (An interesting reversal, given that they took the opposite approach with the PS2.)